Damaged infrastructure hinders search for quake survivors

Tokyo: The desperate search for survivors intensified on Sunday in the splintered remains of buildings destroyed by Japan's deadly earthquake and authorities ordered nearly a quarter of a million people from their homes amid fears of further quakes.

A 7.3 magnitude tremor struck early on Saturday morning, killing at least 32 people, injuring about a thousand more and causing widespread damage to houses, roads and bridges.

It was the second major quake to hit Kumamoto province on the island of Kyushu in just over 24 hours. The first, late on Thursday, killed nine people.

Three nuclear plants in the region were unaffected by the quake, but the Nuclear Regulation Authority said it will hold an extraordinary meeting on Monday to discuss the situation.

A massive 9 magnitude quake and tsunami in northern Japan in 2011 caused the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986, shutting down the nuclear industry for safety checks. The first reactor to restart was Kyushu Electric's Sendai No. 1, which is one of the three reactors in the quake region.

The Kumamoto region is an important manufacturing hub and factories for companies including Sony Corp, Nissan Motor Co Ltd and Toyota, who halted production as they assessed damage. Sony's factory supplies Apple with image sensors for iPhones.

All commercial flights to the damaged Kumamoto airport were cancelled and Japan's bullet train to the region suspended. Expressways are closed in wide areas because of landslides and cracks in the road surface, hindering supplies of water and food reaching survivors.

Rescuers on Sunday searched for dozens of people feared trapped or buried alive.

In the village of Minamiaso, 11 people remain "out of contact", said public broadcaster NHK. Rescuers pulled 10 students out of a collapsed university apartment in the same settlement on Saturday.

"In Minamiaso, where the damage is concentrated, there may still be people trapped under collapsed buildings, so we are focusing our attention and rescue and search efforts in this area," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

Overnight, rescuers digging with their bare hands dragged some elderly survivors, still in their pyjamas, out of the rubble and onto makeshift stretchers made of tatami mats.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he would boost the number of troops helping to 25,000 and had accepted a U.S offer of help with air transportation in the rescue efforts.